Tuesday, October 27, 2009

More boffo Conservative infrastructure spin

The use of the "Knowledge Infrastructure Program" to try to deflect charges of Conservative favouritism was addressed quite handily by FarAndWide the other night. Around the same time, a second fund was also hauled out for political cover, the "Building Canada Fund," referenced in this report: "Infrastructure program overwhelmingly benefits opposition ridings, Tories say." Like the KIP, the Building Canada Fund is similarly useless background noise on the question of the partisan slanting of infrastructure stimulus spending. It too is a fund that would expectantly see disproportionate spending in urban opposition ridings. That's where the program funding is meant to be spent:

One reason for this disparity is that the Building Canada program funds primarily projects in big urban centres, where opposition parties hold many seats.

What's next to creep out of the Conservative spin dungeon...the "Skyscraper Fund" to incontrovertibly prove how well urban opposition ridings are doing?

While all of this is being waved away by Conservatives and sympathetic pundits, the facts speak for themselves. And there's an aspect to this that should not be lost sight of. During a significant recession, spending specifically undertaken to combat that recession was politically gamed. That point remains no matter what they haul out. It fits with the story of these Conservatives.